Gracie Allen

Gracie Allen (July 26, 1902?, San Francisco, California - August 27 1964, Los Angeles, California) was a comedienne of film, radio, and television. Born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen, she was the scatterbrain of the team Burns and Allen, and her husband George Burns was the straight man. They originated the catch-phrase "Say 'good-night,' Gracie."

Life

Born into an Irish Catholic show-business family, Allen was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent School as a girl, and then became a vaudeville performer with her sister Bessie in 1909. She teamed up with George Burns in 1922, and married him in 1926, despite the difference in their religions, which would have caused other people serious problems in those less enlightened times. Early on the team noticed that Gracie was getting far better audience laughs than George even though she was the comic foil of the team. Bowing to reality, the team switched roles and had great success.

Related Topics:
Irish Catholic - Vaudeville - 1909 - George Burns - 1922 - 1926

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In the 1930s they adopted two children: Sandra Jean and Ronald John, who were raised nominally Catholic. When Ronnie Burns was grown, he joined the cast of his parents' 1950-1958 Monday-night television show on CBS, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. Sandra Burns, however, made only brief bit appearances on the show, and soon retired from showbiz.

Related Topics:
1930s - Ronnie Burns - 1950 - 1958 - The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

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Allen's stage persona was as a bizarre, illogical, and not very bright woman. Offstage she was anything but dimwitted, however: historians credit her with having the genius to deliver her lengthy diatribes in a fashion that made it look as though she was making her arguments up on the spot. The quote "Never place a period where God has placed a comma", recently used as a slogan of the United Church of Christ, is attributed to her.

Related Topics:
Slogan - United Church of Christ

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She and Burns were deeply devoted to each other, despite Burns' brief dalliance with another woman, which Gracie accepted stoically. After her death, Burns told a reporter that he had received a number of letters asking why he remained married to "that fruitcake". Burns replied to them by publishing a book titled: I Love Her, That's Why.

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Allen had one green eye and one blue one. At least one biographer has speculated that her sensitivity about that was what caused her to retire from television when color television came in, which would have revealed that feature to her fans. She had stopped making films in the early 1940s when color movies came in, too.

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Gracie Allen died of a heart attack in Hollywood, after a lengthy battle with heart disease, somewhere between the ages of 62 to 70 (see note below regarding Gracie Allen's year of birth). She is interred along with her husband George Burns in a private crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Related Topics:
Heart attack - Hollywood - Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, California

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